Friday 18 April 2014

Kjangjuma to Tengboche

The day started fairly easily, undulating along with great views down the steep valley.  We had great
views of Ama Dablam, which is a superb looking peak and looks just like a mountain should!  The glacier on top is massive and looks like it could collapse at any moment!


Today was a lot warmer at around 20 degrees, so we were back in t-shirts.  The path undulated gently along before dropping steeply to another suspension bridge at Phunki Tenga.  This place is famous for its water powered prayer wheels; unfortunately most appeared to be broken.  We then began another steep climb.

The path is steep and consists of numerous switchbacks.  It was hard work in the hot weather, and again I was breathing hard and happy to be taking it slow.   The group were happy with the slow pace, which is down to acclimatising rather than our lack of fitness!  Some people who were struggling had run marathons, hardly unfit!


It took a couple of hours to get to the crest of the hill and the village and monastery of Tengboche.   We were greeted by a great view of Nuptse, Lhotse and finally Everest!   We stood and looked in awe for quite a while.


Today was only a half day but the afternoon was filled with a acclimatisation walk up to a height of 3950m, so close to that 4000m line!  We stayed the night here in Tengboche, happy that the last ‘big’ climb was over.

We had seen a lot of helicopters today, including a big army Russian made heavy lift Mi-22, we soon learnt the reason why.  There had been A big accident on Everest with a number of deaths.  News was scarce but the numbers indicated it was big and possibly record breaking in terms of deaths in a season.

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